Commercial Driver's Licenses have been in the news a lot lately, and not for good reasons. A number of fatal accidents have been caused by questionably licensed drivers. These high profile incidents have caused a number of states and the Federal government to start digging into who is getting these licenses and how. Much of the current situation dates back to a regulatory change made in 2022 that allowed CDL training schools to 'self certify' that they are turning out qualified drivers. The idea was to make it easier to get more drivers on the road in response to a reported driver shortage, but we've gotten less safe roads instead. According to reporting by FreightWaves, there are approximately 100,000 truck crashes annually resulting in roughly 5,000 fatalities - a 40% increase over the last decade. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner digs past the recent headlines about CDL administration: Looking into the 2022 regulatory change, including the minimum federal requirements for safe commercial drivers and the system supposedly put in place to ensure training schools follow them The details behind the debate over English language proficiency and the eligibility status of non-domiciled drivers And the question that underpins it all: Is there a driver shortage? Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement
--------
18:56
--------
18:56
OceanGate and the Limits of Supply Base Innovation
On June 18, 2023, the OceanGate TITAN, a submersible on its way to the Titanic wreck site, imploded, killing all five passengers, including OceanGate CEO, Stockton Rush. There were a number of factors leading to this tragic event, including a horrible disregard of basic safety measures, a deliberate effort to work outside of regulatory and inspection protocols, and a toxic company culture. While many of these issues were internal, OceanGate did not make the TITAN or its predecessors in-house. This means that they had suppliers, and those companies had a front row seat to what was unfolding. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers the OceanGate operation from a supply chain point of view: OceanGate's evolutionary journey – first to buy and retrofit their submersibles and then to build them The different suppliers that played a role in manufacturing the TITAN, and signs that the company was looking for alternatives The challenge presented by innovation that seems to defy convention. When is an idea truly groundbreaking, and when is it just reckless? Links: Marine Board's Report Into the Implosion of the Submersible TITAN in the North Atlantic Ocean Near the Wreck Site of the RMS TITANIC Resulting in the Loss of Five Lives on June 18, 2023 Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement
--------
18:33
--------
18:33
Asset Optimization Isn't a Destination – It's a Discipline
"No trucking company in the history of trucking companies has ever made money if their wheels aren't moving basically all the time." - Sean Devine, Founder and CEO, XBE When costs are high and competition is tight, how companies think about opportunities and challenges determines how successful they will be. They must deal with the never-ending push and pull between procurement and sales, the role of operational planning, and demand that alternates between peaks and troughs, but the big question is always the same: Is your core business as profitable as it could be? Sean Devine is the Founder and CEO of XBE, and Sean Correll is their General Manager of Heavy Logistics. XBE is an operations platform focused on heavy materials, logistics, and construction. Their customers build and maintain roads, manufacture with concrete and asphalt, and mine and transport aggregate – expensive, asset-intensive activities. Starting with the need to maximize asset utilization, and then transitioning into how the most strategic business decisions are made, this conversation applies far beyond heavy logistics. Kelly, Sean, and Sean discuss: How to optimize owned v. hired logistics capacity The many different levers that can turn a good operation into a great one Understanding the cost of an opportunity, as well as buy-side competition Why we all need to resist the temptation to run towards even the best answers
--------
43:15
--------
43:15
Inside the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics: Harnessing Creative Destruction
"Capitalism, then, is by nature a form or method of economic change and not only never is but never can be stationary." - Austrian Economist Joseph Schumpeter (1950) The 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics was recently awarded to Joel Mokyr, an economic historian at Northwestern University, Philippe Aghion, who is affiliated with universities in France and the U.K., and Peter Howitt, a professor of economics at Brown University. Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt worked together for decades to develop and publish a model that makes it possible to better understand business growth - but not just any growth. The growth fueled by Creative Destruction. Creative Destruction was first described by Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter in 1942 in response to ideas from Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto. In fact, Marx thought, and Schumpeter agreed, that it would lead to the end of capitalism… they just didn't agree on why. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly Barner covers: What Creative Destruction is, and why it is no ordinary form of growth How the idea is connected to the potential end of capitalism Why it is so fascinating that this idea is being highlighted at this moment in time, with the rise of AI right before us. Links: Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement
--------
25:46
--------
25:46
Intermodal by Design: How Coordination Drives Efficiency W/ Anne Reinke
When it comes to moving freight long distances, you can go from ship to drayage to rail to over-the-road trucking… or you can go intermodal. Intermodal freight transportation combines the advantages of sea, air, and land transport to facilitate a preplanned end-to-end journey. Understanding the relative cost, security, and emissions benefits of intermodal transportation is key for companies looking for the most efficient way to move their goods. In this episode of Art of Supply, Kelly Barner is joined by Anne Reinke, the CEO and President of the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA). Anne has experience lobbying for the rail industry and working at the Department of Transportation, as well as with an organization representing 3PLs. In this episode of the Art of Supply podcast, Kelly and Anne discuss: How the relative roles of private companies and government agencies vary by mode of transportation Which factors are most influential in driving demand for intermodal transportation How tariffs are changing shipper behavior, altering the usual seasonal patterns for transportation peaks and lows Links: Anne Reinke on LinkedIn Intermodal Association of North America Kelly Barner on LinkedIn Art of Supply LinkedIn newsletter Art of Supply on AOP Subscribe to This Week in Procurement
Art of Supply, hosted by Kelly Barner, draws inspiration from news headlines and expert interviews to bring you insightful coverage of today's complex supply chains.
Brasil